Winners dont't do different things. They do things differently

From washing cars and selling life insurance in the USA 30 years ago, Shiv Khera has come a long way. His multi-million dollar empire was built from scratch with sheer grit and he exemplifies his motivational trademark signature-line: 'Winners don't do different things, they do things differently.' His greatest claim to fame is in his pioneering work in this field, both in the USA and in India .

Shiv Khera talks of his background as the grandson of a man who owned collieries in Dhanbad before they were nationalized. With disarming candor, Khera says that he failed in class ten and barely made it as a commerce graduate. He talks of his failures, and of the effort that went into his eventual success. He speaks of his struggle to find a footing in Canada and the USA before he met Norman Vincent Peale whose motivational teaching changed his life forever.

Khera's book, You Can Win, an international bestseller, is an intelligently created motivational tool. One cannot but admire a man for walking his talk, for living his lectures, for having been there before acting as a catalyst to show you the way. He is a celebrity and the adulation that people shower on him is mind-boggling. Qualified Learning Systems, Khera's flagship organization, charges phenomenal amounts of money to conduct corporate workshops and companies willingly pay to hear him speak.

''It is high time that people took a stand,'' says Khera, ''those who are indifferent to injustice are as much to blame as the perpetrators. We have to become responsible, we cannot ignore our neighbor's plight, we must get involved.''

He says that we must make a clear distinction between detached action and indifferent noninvolvement. He is very firm in his belief that we all need to note our social responsibility alongside our personal duties. Discipline is high on his agenda of self-development, as are self-esteem and a winner's attitude. He gives a comprehensive list of attitudes that winners and losers have. Examples: 'Winners see the potential; losers see the past. Winners see the gain; losers see the pain. The winner is always part of the answer; the loser is always a part of the problem.'

Defining the winning edge, Khera says: ''In order to get the winning edge, we need to strive for excellence, not perfection. Striving for perfection is neurotic, striving for excellence is progress.'' His definition of success is: ''Knowing you have done a job well and have achieved your objective. Success is not measured by our position in life but by the obstacles we overcame to get there. People who have overcome obstacles are more secure than those who have never faced them.'' You Can Win relates an English proverb that says: ''A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner.'' Everything is difficult before it becomes easy.

Shiv Khera is a winner. He has a veritable who's who list of corporate clients including a number of diplomats who swear by his teaching methods. He divides his time between workshops in India, Singapore and the USA.